Journalist, educator, and author Helen Geracimos Chapin passed away on June 9 in Honolulu. Chapin worked as a news writer at the Honolulu Advertiser and Hilo Herald-Tribune and served as past president of the Honolulu Community-Media Council and the Hawaiian Historical Society. Most recently, she was a professor and vice president at Hawaii Pacific University.
Category: Hawaii
Biography of Edward Nakamura
I Respectfully Dissent, Tom Coffman’s portrait of Edward Nakamura, is both insightful biography and engrossing political history. The arc of the story may sound familiar (the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the GI Bill, Statehood), but it is strewn with surprise, resulting from Nakamura’s unshakable creed and unique angle of vision. Translating the political gains of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Nakamura played a central role—unpublicized—in devising arguably the most progressive program of legislation in an American state: universal health care, temporary disability insurance, collective bargaining rights for public workers, and more—all of which forever changed the Hawai‘i worker’s landscape.
“Rarely do we encounter someone who not only touches our daily lives but also shapes society for the better. Ed Nakamura was such a person, a visionary who lived simply, who was gentle in manner yet fierce in his life-long devotion to justice.” —Lowell Chun-Hoon, labor lawyer
May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3572-9 / $14.99 (PAPER)
Upcoming Author Events
Victoria Kneubuhl will discuss her two mystery novels, Murder Casts a Shadow and Murder Leaves Its Mark, at the Art Lunch event “The Unfamiliar Familiar, Homegrown Mystery,” hosted by the Hawai‘i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, on Tuesday, May 29, 12-1 pm. For more information, go to http://www.state.hi.us/sfca/HiSAM_Events.html.
Kneubuhl will also discuss writing historical fiction at the Kapolei Library on Saturday, June 2, at 10:30 am. A drawing will be held for autographed copies of Murder Casts a Shadow and Murder Leaves Its Mark. Call 693-7050 for more information.
Victoria Kneubuhl’s books are available as eBooks at Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iBooks Store, and Google Play.
Stuart Ball will be participating in a National Trails Day celebration hosted by the Oahu Na Ala Hele Trails and Access Program at the Lyon Arboretum on Saturday, June 2. Ball will be at the gift shop from 1-3pm to sign copies of his latest book, Native Paths to Volunteer Trails: Hiking and Trail Building on O‘ahu, and his ever-popular The Hikers Guide to O‘ahu: Revised Edition. For more information go to http://ntd2012.blogspot.com/2012/05/hiking-expo-at-lyon-arboretum-full.html.
Stuart Ball’s hiking guides are available as eBooks at Amazon’s Kindle Store, Apple’s iBooks Store, and Google Play.
UH Press Around the Web
Jim Tranquada, co-author of this month’s The ‘Ukulele: A History, had a few things to say about Kevin Roderick’s post “In praise of Hawaii’s ukulele (via Portugal)” in LA Observed. Read Tranquada’s comments in Roderick’s follow-up post here. In his response, Tranquada specifically mentions errors in The Daily’s recent “Uke Can Do It Too.” Read The ‘Ukulele to get the real story!
Aborigial Art & Culture: An American Eye calls Minoru Hokari’s Gurindji Journey: A Japanese Historian in the Outback, a “wonderful, iconoclastic study.” Reviewer Will Owen recalls Hokari’s discussion of a Gurindji historical event, John F. Kennedy’s visit to Wave Hill Station in 1966, three years after Kennedy’s assassination: “[This] was better than picking up the latest Swedish crime thriller: I had to keep reading until I understood how Hokari was going to resolve this problem.” Owen concludes his review with:
“In writing this short review of Gurindji Journey, I have used the entertaining and perplexing instance of President Kennedy’s visit to Wave Hill to organize some aspects of Hokari’s story telling and analysis. In doing so, I have not done justice to the complexity and subtlety of his arguments, nor the richness of his immersion in Gurindji culture. But I hope that what I have written will entice you to pick up this unlikely entry in the literature of Indigenous studies written by a Japanese historian in the Outback.”
Gabe Baltazar Radio Interview and at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival
Gabe Baltazar Jr, whose autobiography If It Swings, It’s Music was published this month, was interviewed last March by Tucson jazz radio host Jake Feinberg. For some backstory on the interview, go to http://www.bonhawaii.com/legendary-sax-player-gabe-baltazar-worldwide-radio-show; for the interview, go to http://www.jakefeinbergshow.com/2012/03/jfs-65-the-gabe-baltazar-interview/.
Catch Gabe on YouTube reminiscing at this month’s Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival:
- On meeting his idol, Charlie Parker: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XcdFbilqfs
- On joining the Stan Kenton Orchestra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agxiO2Gd19c
Hyperallergic on The Painted King and the Aim of Public Art
The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i is Glenn Wharton’s account of his efforts to conserve the Big Island’s Kamehameha statue, but it is also the story of his journey to understand the statue’s meaning for the residents of Kapa‘au. The book was the subject of a panel discussion at NYU last March, which was covered by Ben Valentine of the art blog Hyperallergic.
Wharton spoke briefly at the event, followed by invited experts of whom Valentine notes: “One speaker I especially enjoyed was Harriet Senie [professor of art history at CUNY Graduate Center]. Senie reminded the audience that the Lincoln Memorial was made to celebrate Lincoln uniting the union, but now has become a memorial for the end of slavery. A work’s meaning changes with context, and she celebrated Wharton for recognizing this in his conservation of the statue.”
In his book, Wharton sums up the experience: “[It] offered an opportunity for people who had never participated in public dialogue to express their opinions. Some suggested that this gave them experience and confidence to take civic action on issues such as unplanned development.” Valentine concludes: “I think this gets at the core of what much of public art aims to do—to remind us of history, to become a place for community to gather, remember the past and inspire the onlookers of today.”
Read the Hyperallergic post here: http://hyperallergic.com/48103/glenn-wharton-re-painting-a-king/
Autobiography of Jazz Musician Gabe Baltazar Jr.
Hawai‘i’s legendary jazz musician Gabe Baltazar Jr. has thrilled audiences since the late 1940s with his powerful and passionate playing. In If It Swings, It’s Music, the first book on his life and career, Gabe takes readers through the highs, lows, and in-betweens on the long road to becoming one of the very few Asian Americans who has achieved worldwide acclaim as a jazz artist.
“Gabe Baltazar is a living example of the rare Asian American jazz musician who enjoyed a national and international career, one that took place during an important transitional period when jazz was being transformed from a popular idiom into a bona fide tradition. His story provides insight into a real working jazz musician’s life with all its headaches, victories, defeats, and joys.” —Kevin Fellezs, Columbia University
May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3637-5 / $24.99 (PAPER)
UH Press Winners at 2012 Ka Palapala Pookela Awards
This year’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award winners were announced at last week Friday’s award ceremony. Congratulations to our authors Wendy S. Arbeit, John R. K. Clark, Mark Panek, and John E. Randall; and to distributed authors Angela K. Kepler and Francis G. Rust.
Winner for Excellence in Text or Reference and Honorable Mention for Excellence in Special Interest: Links to the Past: The Work of Early Hawaiian Artisans, by Wendy S. Arbeit
Honorable Mentions for Excellence in Hawaiian Culture and for Excellence in Text or Reference: Hawaiian Surfing: Traditions from the Past by John R. K. Clark
Winner for Excellence in Nonfiction: Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior by Mark Panek
Honorable Mention for Excellence in Natural Science: Shore Fishes of Easter Island by John E. Randall and Alfredo Cea
Winner for Excellence in Natural History: The World of Bananas in Hawaii: Then and Now by Angela K. Kepler and Francis G. Rust (Distributed for Pali-O-Waipio Press)
Photo: Author Mark Panek (right) and Ron Cox of the Hawai’i Book Publishers’ Association
A History of the Ukulele
Since its introduction to Hawai‘i in 1879, the ‘ukulele has been many things: a symbol of an island paradise; a tool of political protest; an instrument central to a rich musical culture; a musical joke; a highly sought-after collectible; a cheap airport souvenir; a lucrative industry; and the product of a remarkable synthesis of western and Pacific cultures. The ‘Ukulele: A History, by Jim Tranquada and John King, explores all of these facets, placing the instrument for the first time in a broad historical, cultural, and musical context.
“Here, at last, is the complete story of the ‘ukulele. Thanks to the authors’ years of tireless research, the instrument’s incredible journey is brought vividly to life. This book is a labor of love and a gift of enduring scholarship.” —Jim Beloff, author of The ‘Ukulele: A Visual History
May 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3634-4 / $20.99 (PAPER)
Stuart Ball at Soul Trex for Book Signing
Stuart Ball will be signing copies of his recently published Native Paths to Volunteer Trails: Hiking and Trail Building on O‘ahu at Windward Mall’s Soul Trex on Saturday, May 12, 1-3 pm.
The Painted King Wins Historic Hawaii Preservation Award
The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai‘i, by Glenn Wharton, will be among the books receiving this year’s Historic Hawai‘i Foundation Preservation Media Award.
The award ceremony will be held on Friday, May 11, 2012, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu in the Pīkake Room at 4:00 pm. A reception will follow the presentation program. Tickets to the awards ceremony may be purchased for $45 each (HHF members) or $60 (general admission). Visit http://www.historichawaii.org/ for more information.
Hiking and Trail Building on Oahu
O‘ahu has a varied, extensive, and distinctive network of mountain hiking trails. In Native Paths to Volunteer Trails: Hiking and Trail Building on O‘ahu, Stuart M. Ball, Jr., author of The Hikers Guide to O‘ahu, explores the history behind many of the island’s trails, beginning with early Hawaiians who blazed routes for traveling, plant and wood gathering, and bird catching. Sugar plantations constructed paths to access ditches that tapped stream water for thirsty cane. The U.S. Army built trails for training and island defense, while those developed by the Territorial Forestry Division and the Civilian Conservation Corps were mainly for reforestation and wild pig control. Most recently, volunteers and hiking clubs have created additional routes solely for recreation. The result of all this varied activity is a large network of just over a 100 mountain trails, a precious resource on a small, populous island. The book compiles the history of 50 of these trails.
April 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3560-6 / $21.99 (PAPER)
